Interactionism and labelling theory Flashcards
For labelling theorists is a deviant act deviant in itself?
No deviance is simply a social construction, it is not the nature of the act that makes it deviant but the nature of society’s reaction to the act
What is the role of ‘moral entrepreneurs’?
People lead a moral campaign to change laws in belief it will benefit those whom it’s applied to
What does Pilavin and Briar say?
Found police decisions to arrest were based on stereotypical ideas about manner, dress, gender class, ethnicity.
What did Cicourel found that influenced enforcement?
He argues police stereotypes/common sense theories led them to concentrate on certain ‘types’
What is Cicourel’s overall view?
Justice is not fixed but negotiable
- E.g. young MC offenders didn’t fit police ‘typical delinquents’
What is the dark figure of official statistics?
The difference between the official statistics and the real rate of crime
- We don’t know for certain how much crime goes undetected, unreported and unrecorded
What are the alternative methods to official statistics?
Victim surveys or self report studies to gain a more accurate view
- But these alternatives may have limitations e.g. people may lie when asked if they have committed a crime.
What is primary and secondary deviance and who distinguishes between them?
- Lemert
- Primary deviance refers to deviance acts that have not been publicly labelled and secondary deviance is the result of societal reaction
Why does Lemert believe it is pointless to seek the cause of primary deviance?
It is too trivial and widespread
What are the impacts of secondary deviance on an individual?
- Provokes a crisis of their self-concept and sense of identity due to them being stigmatised and shamed (given a master status)
- Accept the label which may lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy
How does Young use the concept of secondary deviance in his study of hippy marijuana users?
- Initially, drugs were peripheral - an example of primary deviance
- However, persecution and labelling led to the hippies increasingly seeing themselves as outsiders
- This then created a deviant subculture
What is the deviance amplification spiral?
The process in which the attempt to control deviance leads to an increase in the level of deviance (Hippy study)
How did Cohen’s Folk Devils and Moral Panics study support the concept of the deviance amplification spiral?
- Press exaggeration and distorted reporting of the ‘mods and rockers’ aswell moral entrepreneurs calling for a crackdown led to a negative response
- Police responded by reporting more youths and the court imposed harsher penalties
- Therefore increased demonising of the ‘mods and rockers’ as ‘folk devils’ caused further marginalisation
What 2 types of shaming does Braithwaite distinguish between?
- Disintegrative shaming, where not only the crime but the criminal is labelled as bad and the offender is excluded from society
- Reintegrative shaming, labels the act but not the actor, as if to say ‘they have done a bad thing’ rather than ‘they are a bad person’
What is Douglas’ approach to suicide?
- Critical of the use of official statistics, the labelling of the death depends on the interactions of the social actors
- Statistics tells us nothing about the meanings so he argues we must use qualitative methods
